Those Last Few Memories
by Ourliazo
Summary: In one future, the Arcobaleno band together and try to fight off the Anti Tri-ni-set radiation.


Title: Those Last Few Memories

Summary: In one future, the Arcobaleno band together and try to fight off the Anti Tri-ni-set radiation.

This story follows their slow descent into death.

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* * *

Colonnello holds his breath as he steps into the sealed off room between sector one and two. The decontamination chamber seals shut and a sudden rush of air tries to shove him back. He squeezes his eyes closed and waits until it dies down before stepping through to the other side.

It's probably just his imagination, the sudden lethargy that hits when he breathes in the more toxic air. Verde's lab has seven levels, each one larger than the one before and thus it takes more time and effort to filter out the radiation. Sector one is about eight percent infected while sector seven is fifty percent.

Verde could build and switch out the filters so they have more room to move, but sector one is big enough, and the scientist has more issues to worry about, such as the next prototype of the radiation proof suit. Mammon is helping with this iteration since they're thinking of combining Mammon Chain with the material Verde has been using.

Colonnello wanders through sector two for a while, the entire layout featuring a holographic forest but able to be converted into any kind of landscape (for fun or offense and defence) with a quick command put into the computer.

The blond eventually spots a hint of purple hair and picks up his pace, vaulting over a fallen tree before finally reaching Skull.

The stuntman is decked out in the newest version of Verde's suit as well, so at least Colonnello isn't the only one who looks ridiculous. It's big enough to be pulled on outside their normal clothes, but it's also a white onesie with a tight hood so no ounce of dignity survives the first few seconds of wearing it.

The blond steps up behind Skull, the other man (baby) fixing his motorbike, presumably after crashing it just so he could then fix it and crash it again.

"When are you going to come in?" Colonnello asks.

"Later," Skull murmurs.

"Your previous 'later' was three days ago."

"I said later-"

" _Do you not understand what's happening?!_ " Colonnello screams before abruptly reeling himself in.

Skull just keeps fiddling with the tire.

"Millefiore is causing a lot of trouble for Lal," Colonnello says conversationally. "Mammon hasn't slept in two days and Verde's going on his fifth, Fon's looks a little bit more scared every time Reborn takes longer than half a minute to wake up, and our resident hitman is killing himself trying to keep the rest of us alive."

Skull sucks in a shaky breath. His hands have left the bike and now rest in his lap, twisting around each other.

"You've been out here too long," Colonnello continues. "The radiation doesn't only affect the body. Come inside, please."

There's a long pause.

"Okay," the Cloud whispers.

Colonnello waits but when Skull doesn't move he sighs and leaves anyway, wandering back across the fake landscape. He strips off the suit in the chamber and hangs it up with the rest once he steps into sector one.

He hears the sound of someone throwing up. Colonnello quickly darts into the bedroom and finds the adjacent bathroom door slightly ajar. The hitman is hunched over the toilet with Fon hovering close, a hint of concern in the martial artist's expression but this happens often enough that he knows to let it take its course.

The body needs Dying Will flames to live and since Reborn is using all of his to heal the radiation poisoning of everyone else (on top of the pacifiers slowly increasing their pull on the flames ever since the Anti Tri-ni-set was released) the hitman isn't faring so well.

His body is starting to shut down; he's sleeping more, eating less, losing a lot of weight, not focusing properly. He doesn't even insist on wearing his hat anymore.

Colonnello frowns and turns away, slipping out of the bedroom and back into the main area. He has to weave through sleeping robots and edge around tables more often seen in a chemistry lab. At the end of the long room he glances over the computers Mammon and Verde are silently working at. He'll ask for an update later.

He passes through the door to the kitchen and emerges after a few moments with a glass of water and a straw sadly drooping over the rim. When he reaches the bedroom again, Fon and Reborn are both sprawled over the adult sized mattress sitting on the floor that serves as everyone's bed. It's only a single but babies don't need much room, even when there's six of them.

Colonnello clambers up and makes his way over to the others in the corner, barely keeping the water from sloshing out of the glass. Fon's back is against one wall, shoulder pressed to the adjacent one. He's slumped down so his torso is at a slope and Reborn is more comfortable where he's lying on the martial artist.

Colonnello grabs a pillow on the way and offers it to Fon, who smiles and tucks it underneath his back so he isn't straining anymore. The shifting doesn't wake Reborn at all.

"Hey," Colonnello tries, crouching down. "Reborn, wake up." He has to shake the hitman's shoulder.

Reborn doesn't react.

A jolt of panic runs through the blond but he remains outwardly calm. It's getting worse if he's not even flinching. "Stay awake for a bit, man. Come on."

It takes a while but Reborn manages to open his eyes and keep them open long enough to spot the glass of water. "I would have preferred an espresso," he jokes in a rasping voice, throat sore from throwing up just a few minutes ago.

"I know," Colonnello snarks back. "That's why I got you water."

Reborn huffs out a laugh and reaches out to take the glass. Fon moves with him and holds the bottom of it, taking most of the weight. Reborn doesn't protest, because the last time he did, it ended up spilt all over him. Colonnello settles in against the wall, shoulder to shoulder with Fon as Reborn sips at the water.

The glass ends up half empty and sitting on the floor beside the mattress. Reborn's probably going to throw it up again later.

It would be so much easier if another Sun user was called in to help, but regular flames don't affect the radiation. It's intangible to everyone else, which makes sense considering it was made to target the Arcobaleno specifically.

"Where's Skull?" Fon asks quietly once Reborn starts napping again.

Colonnello shrugs, jostling Fon since they're leaning on each other. Fon looks like he's going to demand a clearer answer, but leaves it in the end, fingers slowly running through Reborn's hair.

* * *

Skull's fingers can't stop picking at each other, even as he closes his eyes for the chamber. He can feel blood start to seep under his nails.

He's losing his fucking mind in here – the walls are closing in and there's never enough air and this is bullshit because he's never been claustrophobic. Verde set up an entire playground outside for him, whatever he wants whenever he wants, but it's not enough because Skull is a selfish asshole who's getting panic attacks for no good fucking reason.

The decontamination chamber opens and he steps through, moving quietly but quickly to grab his duffel bag from inside a closet half hidden behind a triangular robot.

He shoves his helmet inside and tries to not remember how excited he was when Verde first handed him the badly wrapped birthday present. He pulls his clothes off the shelves next, followed by the satellite phone Lal gave him and a loop of Mammon Chain. He throws in the jacket that Colonnello and Reborn made, the one with the word 'loser' on the back.

Skull moves to the kitchen next, grateful for how Verde and Mammon shoot him looks but don't ask what he's doing. He takes a beaten-up thermos and fills it with water, his fingers partially covering the lettering of his name, written in Fon's flowing handwriting because they have identical ones and Skull kept accidentally drinking Fon's tea.

The two researchers are gone when Skull steps out of the kitchen and he has to take a steadying breath. He hesitates but plasters on a blank expression and steps into the bedroom, slipping past them all and ducking into the bathroom for his toothbrush and a few other items.

He gets three steps out of the bathroom and then his body betrays him by looking towards the large bed. They're all curled together, eyes closed, and for one horrible second Skull doesn't think any of them are breathing.

The duffel bag slips from his fingers and he takes a shaky step towards them.

What the fuck is he thinking, leaving these people alone? He's a Cloud, the only one synchronised enough with Reborn for the hitman to borrow flames and propagate his own Sun. And if Reborn goes down, they all fall.

Skull makes it onto the bed without too much stumbling and then half collapses onto the sleeping hitman. He squirms into the pile until he's wrapped around Reborn, head resting on Fon's chest with his feet tucked under Mammon.

"Don't worry," he whispers, mostly to himself. "Skull is here to save the day."

What a fucking joke.

There's a slight pull on his flames, barely discernible under the strong current that's being dragged into the pacifier. It takes a minute but Reborn starts breathing easier. After that it really kicks off and a faint yellow glow starts building around him and pours into everyone else.

There's a collective sigh as the dull, constant ache disappears completely for the first time in a while. (It takes longer and longer for Skull's flames to fill back up.) The long-term damage isn't fixed -Reborn especially still looks half dead- but at least there's a moment of respite.

Skull gets the overflow of Sun flames as well, the tension seeping out of him as he relaxes. His fingers, resting on Reborn's back, stop picking at each other. Skull stares in fascination as the holes of ripped away skin start to fill out.

But Sun flames can't fix the smothering atmosphere that presses into Skull. It can't get rid of the small twitches that climb up and down his muscles. Nothing can heal the disgusting feeling when he starts to pull away now that his flames have dropped to a faint flicker.

Reborn twists so their eyes lock. "You get a week. Go frolic, talk to Lal in the Vongola, then come straight back here."

"What if something happens?" Skull asks in a quiet voice. "What – what if I don't make it back in time?" This is why he hasn't left before; because Verde's suits aren't perfect yet and if Skull gets sick outside - if he's too far away…

"Then we'll wait a bit longer," Reborn says simply. "We survived being turned into babies, so I think we've got this."

* * *

Byakuran holds Skull just long enough, and then drops off the Cloud a few steps outside Verde's lab.

* * *

When the bazooka hits Reborn, he appears in a pitch-black room, the only light coming from his pacifier.

He sits up on what feels like a bed and several small objects roll towards him from the sudden dip he causes. He's more distracted with the adult sized bed – is it his, what's happening with the curse?

He clicks on a lizard flashlight and hops off the mattress. He strides for the switch beside the open doorway and flicks on the ceiling light so Leon can curl up in his hand as a gun. He freezes when he lays eyes on the bed – the rest of the room blurring out of focus.

Five pacifiers, dull and completely empty of flame, are clustered on the bed like they were desperately clinging to each other when it happened.

Only the differently coloured tops tell him which Arcobaleno used to be here. A ring of green, red, indigo, blue and a yellow. Reborn clutches at his own pacifier, a solid yellow with a soft glow. His hands are shaking.

Reborn pushes it all back, struggling to regain control. The priority right now is to gather information. He turns away from the grave and steps through to another, far larger room, definitely Verde's design.

There's a violet pacifier sitting at his feet, smudged with blood. In fact, there's a trail of blood through the room like someone was dragging themselves across the floor. Skull was still trying to reach them when he finally died.

Reborn picks up the pacifier and cleans it off on his suit jacket before walking over to the bed. He places the violet one down with the rest so Skull won't be so alone anymore.

Then Reborn just fucking breaks.

* * *

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A/N: Fon probably lasted the longest and had to tell Lal about every death before him. He's grateful for the fact that only a pacifier remains after an Arcobaleno dies, because he probably wouldn't be able to take it if a corpse was left instead.


End file.
